1st Edition

The Genome Incorporated Constructing Biodigital Identity

By Kate O'Riordan Copyright 2010
    164 Pages
    by Routledge

    164 Pages
    by Routledge

    The Genome Incorporated examines the proliferation of human genomics across contemporary media cultures. It explores questions about what it means for a technoscience to thoroughly saturate everyday life, and places the interrogation of the science/media relationship at the heart of this enquiry. The book develops a number of case studies in the mediation and consumption of genomics, including: the emergence of new direct-to-the-consumer bioinformatics companies; the mundane propagation of testing and genetic information through lifestyle television programming; and public and private engagements with art and science institutions and events. Through these novel sites, this book examines the proliferating circuits of production and consumption of genetic information and theorizes this as a process of incorporation. Its wide-ranging case studies ensure its appeal to readers across the social sciences.

    Contents: Introduction; The genome and me: incorporating personal publics; Reality genomics: DNA testing and reality television genres; Imaginative incorporation: art and genomics; Identities: incorporating sexuality in the genome; Conclusion; Bibliography; Index.

    Biography

    Kate O'Riordan is Senior Lecturer in Media and Film, University of Sussex, UK

    'The Genome Incorporated: Constructing Biodigital Identity provides a refreshingly detailed investigation of how human genomics is being taken up and of the everyday ways through which people are being incorporated into it. It is a fascinating book and an important contribution to technoscience studies, media studies, and cultural studies.' Maureen McNeil, Lancaster University, UK 'In The Genome Incorporated, Kate O’Riordan produces an intersecting collection of rich and multi-layered case studies through the flexible and sensitive application of diverse methods at a range of contemporary media sites. Her attention to specificity, in production, consumption and circulation, undercuts simplistic assumptions about the genomicisation of everything and resists both utopian and dystopian versions of technological determinism.' Joan Haran, Cardiff University, UK